Location:

Website:

Established:

Researchers:

4 Senior Staff in medical oncology; 2 PhD students; 2 research fellows; 4 research nurses, 1 nurse clinician, 1 clinical nurse specialist, a team of clinical trial coordinators, a project manager, a dietitian and various students

Goal:

Professor Valle’s team is focused on clinical and translational research in cholangiocarcinoma and other Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary tumours. They aim to understand clinical characteristics of patients with cholangiocarcinoma and develop new options of treatment. Professor Valle’s team has successfully changed practice in cholangiocarcinoma by participating in national and international clinical trials, such as the ABC-02 study which established cisplatin and gemcitabine combination to be the standard of care first-line treatment for patients with advanced disease. Professor Valle’s team collaborates closely other teams and scientists throughout the world.

Message to Patients:

As the Vice-Chair of the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Medical Advisory Board, Professor Valle would like patients to know that the days of cholangiocarcinoma being considered “too rare” to be able to run practice-changing clinical trials are gone. As evidenced through the ABC-02 and BilCap studies, researchers and their teams are able to make step-by-step improvements in treatment for patients, as well as our understanding of the disease. However, it is clear that this is only possible through national and international collaboration as well as the willingness of patients to participate in such studies, with the support of their families and carers.

Greatest Achievement:

Professor Valle, in collaboration with UK colleagues, has designed and successfully completed many clinical trials for patients with cholangiocarcinoma and other biliary tract malignancies. The greatest achievement has been to demonstrate (through the ABC-02 study) that trials in cholangiocarcinoma have changed from “too-rare” to “can-do”. It is rewarding to now see a number of clinical trials available for patients; and we await the outcomes in due course. We hope these will continue to improve outcomes for patients.

Greatest Challenge:

A significant challenge is understanding that “cholangiocarcinoma” may, in fact, include a number of different diseases which behave differently one to another. How to study different sub-groups of patients in a disease that is already rare will remain a challenge.

CCF Funded Research

Angela Lamarca, MD, PhD

Study: Trans-ABC06: Understanding the role of DNA-damage repair mechanisms in patients with cholangiocarcinoma: translational research in the context of the ABC06 randomized phase III clinical trial

Researcher: Angela Lamarca, MD, PhD

Purpose: Early identification of patients most likely to benefit from platinum chemotherapy in order to inform physicians of the most suitable treatment.

“The Elisabeth Dardenne Stefanini Memorial Research Fellowship has given me an opportunity to be involved in an exciting project which will clarify whether we can predict which patients with cholangiocarcinoma will respond to chemotherapy. Without the unconditional support of the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation, this project could not have been performed. Thank you to the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation, to all patients, families and supporters!” – Dr. Angela Lamarca